Apple canceled ‘Mythic Quest.’ Then it did something unheard of in the world of streaming TV

Last week, Apple announced it would cancel one of the first shows that it had ever green lit for its Apple TV Plus streaming service: Mythic Quest, a show that first launched on the tech giant’s then-fledgling streaming service in February 2020. The show, which followed the escapades of an MMORPG video game developer, was axed after the last episode of its fourth season, which aired on March 26. 

Like many season finales, the last episode of Mythic Quest ended on a cliffhanger, so when viewers learned of its cancellation, they assumed that they would never get any resolution to the storyline and characters that they had followed for four seasons.

Yet then Apple did something unexpected: It allowed the show producers to reedit the season four ending to give closure to the storyline—and fans.

Streaming TV is littered with unresolved cliffhangers

If there’s one thing subscribers to streaming services have come to accept, it’s that they shouldn’t get too connected to a new series. Why? Because you never know if the streamer is going to ax it after just a season or two.

One streamer in particular—Netflix—is notorious for doing this. The streaming giant will often premiere new series to see what sticks with audiences. But even if those series are critically and commercially well-received, that’s no guarantee that viewership will be high enough to clear whatever bar Netflix uses to justify a next season.

Often, it isn’t—and this has left a slew of abruptly canceled shows that ended on cliffhangers and left fans unsure of how things would have ended.

Such shows include the critically acclaimed zombie series Black Summer, the horror series Archive 81, the sitcom Space Force, and the science fiction show 1899, just to name a few. All had seasons that ended on major cliffhangers—only for the series to be canceled shortly after.

To be fair, Netflix isn’t the only streamer that does this. HBO Max and Amazon Prime are guilty of this, too. And, of course, before the world of streaming, network television was also guilty of canceling shows on cliffhangers, though not to the degree that streamers appear to be willing to do it. Historically, networks were always more generous with giving shows the time they needed to find an audience—even if that took three or four seasons.

But what is unheard of is a streamer allowing the creatives of a canceled series to go back and reedit the already-aired last episode so that the show and its fans can have some proper closure. Yet that’s precisely what Apple has now done.

‘Mythic Quest’ fans get closure

Last Friday, Mythic Quest’s creators and executive producers, Megan Ganz, David Hornsby, and Rob McElhenney, announced that Apple has given them permission to reedit the original season four cliffhanger to provide closure to the storyline, characters, and fans.

“Endings are hard. But after four incredible seasons, Mythic Quest is coming to a close. We’re so proud of the show and the world we got to build—and deeply grateful to every cast and crew member who poured their heart into it. To all our fans, thank you for playing with us. To our partners at Apple, thank you for believing in the vision from the very beginning,” the trio said in a statement (via Deadline). 

But they continued: “Because endings are hard, with Apple’s blessing we made one final update to our last episode—so we could say goodbye, instead of just game over.”

That “final update” to the show’s last episode is a reedit of the series four finale, titled “Heaven and Hell.” At this time, it is unknown how significantly the final episode has been reedited, but it will be released on Apple TV Plus later this week.

Probably not a sign of things to come

While fans of the show will no doubt be happy that at least they will get some closure to the storyline and characters that they have followed for years, it’s unlikely that Apple’s move represents the beginning of a seismic shift in the streaming industry.

It’s not known why Apple has decided to allow the show’s creators to go back and edit the last episode—or what the terms of the deal were. Mythic Quest’s creators’ statement suggests that no new scenes were shot, and instead, they accomplished the reedit simply by using existing footage they had already shot.

Fast Company has reached out to Apple for comment. 

But realistically, we probably shouldn’t expect other streamers to follow suit. Streaming services cancel dozens of shows each year, and most shows that suddenly get canceled likely wouldn’t have enough unused footage to reedit a final cliffhanger episode into something that provides a cohesive amount of closure.

It’s also unlikely that a streamer would be willing to pay for the creatives and star to go back out to shoot new footage to provide such closure, given that they’ve already canceled the show and thus didn’t see the value in it to their bottom line.

However, what will be interesting to see is how Apple handles the reedited episode. It is unknown whether Apple will keep the originally streamed season four finale on Apple TV Plus alongside the new edit of the episode or simply remove the original entirely.

Either way, fans of Mythic Quest will be happy that the show is getting the concrete ending that all shows deserve.

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